The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council passed their 2018-19 operating budget at a meeting on Aug. 8.
This year, each Carleton undergraduate student will pay $61.34 in tuition fees to CUSA. According to this year’s budget worksheet summary, those student fees will account for a little over $1.1 million of CUSA’s $2.8 million approved total general revenue.
Council was set to discuss the budget at a July 31 meeting, but after the meeting ran late, the budget item was tabled to a meeting held earlier this month. Councillors supported a motion to table the budget at the meeting in July, and saidthere was a lack of time to discuss it in detail.
In an interview with the Charlatan, Luke Taylor, CUSA’s vice-president (finance), said the budget focuses on fulfilling campaign promises and “accurate forecasting for revenues.”
“At the end of the day, this budget shows all of the plans, projects, and goals that we have for this entire year,” Taylor said in his budget presentation at the meeting.
Henry’s overhaul
One of the biggest changes to the budget is an overhaul of Henry’s Convenience Store—one of CUSA’s four businesses, currently located on the first floor of the University Centre (UC).
According to Taylor, CUSA will be changing the convenience store’s name, as well as rebranding and relocating the business to the fourth floor of the UC.
“It’s really exciting because it’s open concept and it’s a minimalist approach. I think Henry’s before was kind of always over-crowded . . . it was almost overwhelming to walk in there,” he said.
Taylor said the new location will focus on increasing healthier on-campus food options for students. He added that CUSA did a survey last year that saw students expressing a desire for healthier food options.
The new location’s design will increase foot traffic from students by making it more accessible, Taylor said.
“The biggest forecasting that we did—the toughest one—was actually quantifying how much added foot traffic that we’re going to be getting,” he said. “Increased foot traffic will relate to increased revenue, because there will be a lot more students coming in.”
The new location of Henry’s will also no longer have Canada Post services, come September.
According to a document on the incoming Canada Post closure by CUSA general manager, Travis Lindgren, Henry’s was experiencing an annual loss of approximately $18,000 to $21,000 from its in-store postal services.
With incoming changes to digitalize the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP)—which primarily uses Canada Post for part of the application process—Henry’s would have experienced a further $13,000 in losses, the document said.
Taylor said the older location for Henry’s will be leased out to the INS Market, a Canadian convenience store franchise, which will allow CUSA to maintain rent and keep older employees working for the new tenants.
He added that leasing the space means “there’s zero risk in terms of losing money on that space.”
“INS will be paying for the rent completely,” Taylor said.
CUSA Swag
This year, CUSA allocated $20,000 towards “CUSA Swag” in the budget, a project run through the CUSA communications department.
The project aims to create a lifestyle brand for the Carleton undergraduate community, Taylor said.
“[The funding] from the budget is going towards creating more school spirit, and creating a lifestyle brand for students to feel more unity and more connection on campus,” he said.
In an email, CUSA communications manager Christine Falardeau said the association is working on a “Swag Shop” concept that will sell CUSA-branded apparel and merchandise.
Taylor said the project will release different lines of apparel throughout the year, based on different events.
“By releasing it in this way, we hope that in the years to come, it will become something that students will look forward to and go like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait till the next [CUSA clothing] line comes out,’” he said.
Plans for a Haven Books café
According to Taylor, Haven Books—CUSA’s off-campus bookstore that sells new and used textbooks—will also be revamped. The renovations, filed under “Depreciation” and “Capital Assets” in the budget, will include a new café space modelled after other local cafés in the Old Ottawa South community, he added.
“Haven Books is a very seasonal business, so you have your spikes in September and your spikes in January when everybody is buying their textbooks,” Taylor said. “Within those three months in the middle, when not many people are coming in, we asked ourselves, ‘how do we get that revenue?’”
Taylor said the café would also be able to serve as a contending off-campus venue for university events.
“For the months where we don’t have those insane textbook rushes, people will now be able to grab coffee, hold poetry slams, and host other events for students living off-campus,” he said. “It will also allow students on campus to integrate with the off-campus community in Old Ottawa South, which is very big in the café culture but doesn’t [have] one nearer to the school.”
He also added that the café will get more foot traffic, as it’s located in a commercial square he believes is already doing well financially.
There was some concern, Taylor said, that installing a café would result in a lack of space for books, but he said books will still be stored around the café for purchase. He said he believes online sales and on-campus pick-up options would make the adjustment to a café easier.
Minimum wage increase
Taylor said the 2018-19 budget also reflects the Ontario minimum wage increase, from $11.60 to $14 per hour in January. According to the Government of Ontario’s webpage, the minimum wage will increase to $15 per hour by January 2019, despite recently-elected Premier Doug Ford’s campaign promise to freeze minimum wage at $14 per hour.
“There are different ways a business can remain profitable despite minimum wage increases. You can look at different staffing schedules, and better pricing for products,” Taylor said. “I think, overall, it comes down to being creative and finding new ways to be able to make enough revenue to support our employees, because at the end of the day, these are student employees we are talking about.”
Free printing
Taylor added that this fiscal year’s budget reflects CUSA’s campaign promise for free printing through an increase in the front desk’s photocopying and printing budget.
Last year, CUSA budgeted $11,500 to implement a free printing system, but only spent $2,963.70. This year, the budget for black-and-white and colour printing for the front desk, which includes free printing, has decreased to $9,800.
Taylor said CUSA is looking at implementing a different system to incorporate free printing.
Renovation and relocation for Henry’s is expected to be completed by mid-October, and the new Haven Books café is expected to be running by November.
Featured photo by Haneen Al-Hassoun
